Shell’s Oil Refinery Intake Fell 8% in the First Quarter

April 26 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc said the
newly expanded Port Arthur refinery in the U.S. is processing
crude and a hydrocracker will start operating by the end of
second quarter.

“We have crude in the units,” Chief Financial Officer
Simon Henry said today on a conference call. “Some of the
downstream processing units are actually up and running
producing on-spec product.” Hydrocrackers produce distillate
fuels, a category that includes diesel and heating oil.

The refinery in Texas, operated by Motiva Enterprises LLC,
completed an expansion project that more than doubled total
capacity to 600,000 barrels a day, with crude processing
starting earlier this month, The Hague-based Shell said today in
a statement.

Motiva is a refining and marketing venture of Saudi
Refining Inc., a subsidiary of Saudi Arabian Oil Co., and
Shell’s U.S. oil unit. Shell owns 50 percent of the refinery.

The amount processed at Shell’s refineries fell by 8
percent, or 248,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, to 2.78
million barrels a day in the first quarter, Shell said.